What is art psychotherapy?
Art psychotherapy weaves the creative process with psychotherapy to support the client to express what would otherwise be difficult to articulate. If you are experiencing grief and loss, trauma, chronic pain or illness, and/or neurodivergent disorders such as ADHD or ASD, and often find yourself feeling like you just “can’t find the words” – this may be the approach where you can finally feel seen and heard.
“But I’m not an artist”
Art psychotherapy weaves the creative process with psychotherapy to support the client to express what would otherwise be difficult to articulate. If you are experiencing grief and loss, trauma, chronic pain or illness, and/or neurodivergent disorders such as ADHD or ASD, and often find yourself feeling like you just “can’t find the words” – this may be the approach where you can finally feel seen and heard.
Why you think you’re not an artist
- Colonialism has defined which forms of art are fine art, positioning Indigenous and ancient art forms that rely on intuition as subordinate to realistic art making.
- Patriarchal values have defined craft and textiles, which have historically been women dominated through domestic labor as subordinate to fine art styles such as oil painting.
- Capitalism has commodified creativity, impacting the relationships we have with our creative selves, viewing our lives as products rather than a process of joy, play, and love.
How I support you to resist through art therapy
I support you to reconnect and reclaim your creativity, with gentle compassion towards your inner critic, while viewing your act of art-making in a healing context as an act of resistance against socio-political oppression.
